Syrian state media reports Israeli incursion and shelling in the south

On 26 July 2026, Syrian state media said Israeli forces had carried out a new incursion in southern Syria, one day after visiting UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for respect for Syria's sovereignty.

State news agency SANA said Israeli forces entered the villages of Maariya and Al-Aarda in the Yarmuk basin in western Daraa province early Sunday. It said soldiers were accompanied by three military vehicles and a bulldozer, and that they set up a checkpoint in Al-Aarda. SANA also said Israeli forces dropped leaflets in towns in the Yarmuk basin warning residents not to close roads or obstruct the advance of vehicles.

SANA separately said Israeli forces fired artillery shells at farmland near the village of Taranja in Quneitra province on Sunday. It did not report casualties.

The report came after Guterres said Saturday that violations of Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity were unacceptable and must stop. He also said the situation around the Golan Heights was unacceptable and said the Golan Heights are Syrian territory.

A UN statement said Guterres, during a meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Saturday, reaffirmed the UN's commitment to Syria's sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity. The statement said he expressed deep concern about what it called Israeli violations of the 1974 disengagement agreement.

After the December 2024 overthrow of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad, Israel sent troops into the UN-patrolled buffer zone that had separated Israeli and Syrian forces on the Israeli-occupied Golan since 1974. It has also carried out strikes and repeated incursions deeper into Syrian territory. Israeli officials have said they intend to keep forces in a security zone in southern Syria and want a broader demilitarised zone there.

Israel captured most of the Golan from Syria in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War and later annexed the areas it controls, a move not recognised by most of the international community.

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said Saturday that continued Israeli military actions and what he called the unlawful occupation of Syrian land beyond the 1974 line threatened regional security. He called for an immediate and unconditional withdrawal.

Last month, Syrian state media and a local official said residents of Abidin village in the Yarmuk basin fled Israeli artillery fire after locals tried to block a road to stop an Israeli patrol advancing in the area.

Despite tensions, Israel and Syria's new authorities have held several rounds of direct talks and have agreed to set up an intelligence-sharing mechanism.